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Cross-Dressers, commonly defined as individuals who wear clothing
and take on an appearance and behavior considered by a given culture to be
appropriate for another gender but not one's own, have often been
misunderstood and maligned, especially in societies with strict, dichotomous
gender roles. |
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Joan of Arc by J. A. D. Ingres |
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Gladys Bentley
(1907-1960), an African-American
Blues singer,
often performed in male drag and openly flaunted her lesbianism in the
1920s and 1930s, but recanted in the 1950s in an attempt to salvage her
career. |
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 Rosa Bonheur
(1822-1899), the most popular artist of nineteenth-century France,
specialized in painting animals. She sought and received government
permission to wear men's clothes to protect her when she worked in dangerous environments
such as slaughterhouses and horse markets. |
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A
Drag King
is anyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference or orientation,
who consciously makes a performance of masculinity. Drag Shows
featuring drag kings, a recent arrival in the drag arena, are part of
an international drag movement that emerged in London and San Francisco
in the mid 1980s. |
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Catalina de Erauso (ca 1592-ca 1650) lived the
rough-and-ready life of a soldier in the Spanish colonies. She became a
celebrity in Spain when her true sex was revealed. |
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Della Grace
(b. 1957) is a self-described hermaphrodyke photographer who uses
cross-dressing in both her life and her art to confront questions of
the performance of gender. |
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Annie Hindle
(1847-19??)
was the first woman to gain significant attention as a male
impersonator in the United States. The vaudeville performer created a
stir when she married her dresser, Annie Ryan. |
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Joan of Arc
(1412-1431) was a French peasant girl who became an important military
leader. Though she was condemned to death by the Inquisition, the Roman
Catholic Church has since canonized her as a saint. |
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In
Literature, lesbian cross-dressing is often depicted quite
differently than gay male cross-dressing. While gay male cross-dressing
is usually conflated with transsexualism, lesbian cross-dressing is
seen as a way of claiming power in a society that limits the social
mobility of women. |
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 Bisexual
writer George Sand (1804-1876) is as infamous for her
cigar-in-hand cross-dressing as she is famous for her eighty novels,
twenty plays, and numerous political tracts. |
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In Japan,
Takarazuka,
all-female musical and theater companies in which women play all roles,
have thrived during the twentieth century. Actresses playing males have
generated large female fan clubs. |
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Transvestism
in Film too often reduces cross-dressing to a mere joke, a
harmless tease that tacitly reassures us that people can change their
clothes but not their sexual identities. |
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Variety and
Vaudeville and related theatrical forms featured cross-dressed
acts, as well as routines that challenged prevailing gender
constructions. |
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Photo
Credits: The image of Joan of Arc courtesy
Clipart.com (Copyright © 2003-2004 Clipart.com). |
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